‘A Pull to the East?’ I said.
‘Please let Dr Jore speak,’ Davey said, sternly.
Dr Jore slightly bowed and went on. ‘Perhaps I could put this matter rather more succinctly by stating a paradigm which I believe to be unconfutable. Human beings, in my view and in the view of others more qualified than I, are roughly divided (in respect of what I am about to enucleate, to the best of my endeavour and without having had access to my case), human beings, then, fall into two roughly definable categoremia: those who are subject and liable to a Pull to the East and others, I am happy to say an appreciably larger grouping, who are subject and liable to a Pull to the West. Perhaps I could explain this matter more readily comprehensibly if I were to state that those on the continent of Europe who feel a very compelling wish and desire to visit England, Ireland and the Americas feel little wish or desire to go to Russia, China and the Indias, whereas those forcibly attracted to China, Russia and the Indias –’
‘Don’t want to go to America.’
‘Please let Dr Jore finish what he is saying,’ Davey said peevishly. ‘It’s so interesting, Fanny –’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘If you go far enough East you come to the West. If you could manage to push my son a little further we might get him to Hollywood. Then he could join up with Auden and everybody,’ I said to Davey, ‘and Jassy could keep an eye on him. That might be a solution?’
Davey sighed deeply. ‘And now, perhaps, we could be allowed to hear what the doctor has to say?’
Dr Jore had shut his eyes while I spoke. He opened them again. ‘Mrs Ambassadress, ma’am, you have put your finger on the very heart of the matter.’
I looked triumphantly at Davey who said ‘Ssh.’
‘This is a point which has by no means escaped the learned professor who was the first to proclaim this doctrine of Oriental versus Occidental attraction. Now this attraction (whether towards the Orient or East or towards the Occident or West) occurs in the persons subjected to its magnetism in greater or lesser degrees and we practising psychiatrists find it possible to cure or check it according to its strength. May I explain myself? If the pull, whether to the East or to the West (a pull to the West, of course, is very much more desirable than its converse, and rarely needs to be cured, though in a few, very extreme, cases it should be checked), if the pull, then, is very strong it is comparatively easy to cure. If it is overwhelmingly strong the patient has only to be encouraged to follow it and in these days of jet travel he will find himself back where he started in a surprisingly short time. Period. In the case, however, Mrs Ambassadress, of your son, the pull, by all the evidence which I have been able to garner, is weak. It has pulled him over the English Channel and across Normandy as far as Paris. Here it seems to have left him. Where there is so little for me to combat, the case is difficult. Therefore when your uncle suggested that I should work in collaboration with a physician I gladly agreed to do so. I feel that by super-adding the action of certain glands it should be possible to augment the will-power of your son, thus giving myself a basis on which to proceed. I must now touch upon another and more serious aspect of the Pull. Should the patient yearn towards the manners, customs and ways of thought of the Eastern Lands – should he sit on the floor eating rice; should the muezzin call for him in the Champs Élysées; should he dream of military deploys in the Red Square and think the bronzes of Démé-Jioman superior to those of Michelangelo – then, what I might call the jet treatment will not be sufficient. Then we must wean him back to the manners, customs and ways of Western Civilization and this we must do by means of his subconscious. Here the silent, long-playing gramophone record during sleep has its role, super-added to a daily personal collocution with myself or one of my assistants. Period.’
Dr Jore shut his eyes again and there was silence. I did not dare to break it. At last Davey said, ‘Excellent. That is precisely the conclusion I had come to myself. Now I think you should see your patient in his own surroundings – I’ll take you up to his room.’
Dr Jore was with David for about an hour, after which he went to Davey’s room for an uninterrupted consultation. David came rocketing down to me.
‘I see that you and Uncle Davey think I’m mad.’
‘Oh, no, darling – whatever makes you say that?’
‘Then why have you called in this ghastly Yank?’
‘Davey – you know what he is – thought you weren’t looking very well.’
‘He’s quite right there. I don’t feel a hundred per cent. But isn’t Dr Lecœur coping with that? Why should I need an alienist?’
‘You must ask Davey,’ I said weakly. ‘He’s your godfather, he has taken you on, it’s nothing to do with me.’
‘You told this doctor about teaching me to pee into a pot, didn’t you?’
‘He asked.’
‘Yes, well, another time please let him ask. After all, this was most private between you and me, I call it wildly indiscreet of you to discuss it with a stranger. Another thing, Ma, if Dr Jore comes here every day like he says he’s going to he will drive me mad. Really, properly barking. I am quite serious.’
‘I must say I see
